1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distributing and collecting device for conveyed products such as liquid food packs. The products are initially conveyed single file and distributed into a prescribed number of rows. After the rows are filled, the groups of collected products are then conveyed to a downstream treatment device such as a shrink-packaging device.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, in order to collect multiple products in sets, if the products are parallelepiped tubes such as liquid food packages, a device has bene used in which vertical conveyors are established on both sides of the end of the carrier conveyor. These vertical conveyors run more slowly than the carrier conveyor thereby applying a braking force to both sides of the products that are conveyed one after another to narrow the gaps between them so as to have the products contact each other. When a certain amount of the products are discharged, the vertical conveyors are temporarily stopped so that a row of discharged products that are stopped on the carrier conveyor in the mutually contacted condition are pushed in the direction perpendicular to the running direction using a pusher. These actions are repeated for a prescribed number of times so that the products are distributed into a prescribed number of rows in sets of a fixed amount and collected as seen, for example, in FIG. 1 of Tokkaisyo 61-64627.
Another device, which does not use a pusher, directs a row of conveyed products between parallel guides that oscillate horizontally on a wide conveyor. The products are distributed into multiple rows in sets of a fixed amount and are stopped to be collected Such a device is shown in FIG. 1 of Jikkosyo 46-27334 where products (bottles With a flat circular section) are distributed and collected, in which the products are distributed by parallel guides that oscillate on a wide conveyor and are stopped by an unillustrated stopper gate.
Among the conventional collecting devices, the above-mentioned conventional collecting device using a pusher has the following problem that after a row of a prescribed number of products (such as packages in sets of four) are discharged via vertical conveyors at the end of the carrier conveyor and are stopped on the following conveyor, these products are pushed transversely (in the direction perpendicular to the running direction of the conveyor), such that a space has to be recovered for the next row to place the row in front of the pusher to be pushed. This inevitably produces a time loss and since the above action has to be repeated several times in order to collect products, the collecting speed cannot be increased.
The latter device, which employs guides that horizontally oscillate on a wide conveyor to distribute products into a prescribed number of rows in sets of a fixed amount and which stops the products to be collected using a stopper gate has the problem that it is difficult to increase the collecting speed. After a prescribed number of products are collected in multiple rows and discharged, the stopper gate is used again to continually stop and collect the products that are distributed. If the collecting speed is increased, the products tend to accumulate in front of the gate, thereby preventing accurate distribution of the products.